Warning, this whole thread is a spoiler. Don't read if you haven't played through Heirs of Blood.

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Both Interlude Transitions refer to the Monastery in Ruins.

The Monastery is really only destroyed in the Saradyn in Flames Interlude mission.

The side mission "From the Wreckage" really shows the heroes in a grand advantage having pulled one over on Eliza - i.e. absolutely nothing to do with the Monastery getting sacked.

...

Wut?

I double checked to make sure I wasn't confusing mission flow. Both From the Wreckage and Saradyn in flames transition directly into Act 2 ... so those missions are not a chained to each other. Which indicates the selection of the interlude is based on the results of the prior Quest.

So ... why the mission interlude directly and obtusely makes canon reference to only 1 of the interludes is beyond me.

Do you have thoughts on this?

The main reason I'm asking is I'm writing a brief narrative companion packet for the Quest Guide - one that will fill in the plot holes and give context for each subsequent mission choice (usually able to do so in under 1 paragraph per victory result). So, this is a pretty hefty plot hole to keep wide open.

So, how should I tackle this?
Do I re-write what's in the book and provide 4 different transition blurbs?
Do you have suggestions on how to approach the narrative if the prior mission was From the Wreckage?

Thanks in advance

Yeah, the transition blurb only makes sense if the interlude played was "Saradyn in Flames". I think the piece of narrative that needs to be filled is that while you are discovering Eliza's plans by tricking her, Alric Farrow is sacking the monastery. If you win the Interlude, Tyrus is not captured during the sacking, but if you lose he is (maybe because Eliza isn't wounded in the battle and can help search for him?)

15 minutes ago, Charmy said:

Yeah, the transition blurb only makes sense if the interlude played was "From the Wreckage". I think the thing piece of narrative that needs to be filled in that while you are discovering Eliza's plans by tricking her, Alric Farrow is sacking the monastery. If you win the Interlude, Tyrus is not captured during the sacking, but if you lose he is (maybe because Eliza isn't wounded and can help search the ruins for him?)

I was thinking that if the heroes played Wreckage ... in the epilogue the monks would evacuate the monastery (win or lose), knowing that the baddies would attack again. So at least that would explain why the monastery is out of the picture.

Riffing off what you said ... I think what could work is if when Eliza triggered her mid-encounter retreat - I add in a text blurb about "I'll steal the boy myself, after I'm done with you. Ohhh ho ho ho ho [90s anime laughter]".

That would at least set-up the post-encounter kidnapping off camera. With that foreshadow it'd hopefully make it a bit less frustrating (like how some choose your own adventure books just sprang crap on you regardless of choice).

But yeah, more I think about it, the more I think I'll write some epilogues more tailored to From the Wreckage.